With mounting design complexities and shrinking design cycles, developers are looking for flexible FPGA solutions that can deliver high functionality at an attractive price point. The introduction of the ARM Cortex-M1 Development Kit, comprised of the ARM Cortex-M1 processor and ARM RealView Microcontroller Development Kit, including compiler, debugger and RTX RTOS, offers FPGA developers a plug-in to Altera’s development environment, as well as access to the ARM processor architecture at an affordable price. Using the Cortex-M1 Development Kit in tandem with the Altera tools, Altera users can begin development of embedded systems based on its Cyclone III FPGAs and the ARM 32-bit processor.

“ARM recognizes the importance of servicing the FPGA community and has worked to create an easy-to-use, out of the box solution for developers to deploy in designing their FPGA-based embedded systems” said Graham Budd, executive vice president and general manager, Processor Division, ARM. “The Cortex-M1 Development Kit underscores our commitment to bringing the ARM architecture to FPGA users at an affordable price point. Through this development kit, ARM is able to leverage the strengths of its technologies and extend the reach of the ARM architecture to Cyclone III developers.”

The Cortex-M1 processor has generated strong support from the ARM Connected Community and brings a broad ecosystem of software tools and real-time operating systems to FPGA users, as well as software compatibility with ASIC optimized processors such as the ARM Cortex-M3 processor. The Cortex-M1 Development Kit is a natural extension to the Cortex-M1 processor, enabling developers to reduce engineering costs by promoting the standardization of microcontroller (MCU) products on a single architecture spanning FPGAs, application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), structured ASICs and application-specific standard products (ASSPs).

“With embedded designers under tremendous pressure to increase the performance of their designs while at the same time reduce their time to market, the performance and flexibility of FPGAs are proving to be very compelling,” said Danny Biran, senior vice president of corporate and product marketing, Altera Corporation. “By combining ARM’s technology expertise with our Cyclone III FPGAs, we are enabling the large established base of ARM users to quickly deploy their designs on FPGAs at a cost effective price.”

The Cortex-M1 Development Kit will be distributed throughout the US and Europe by Arrow Electronics.

“ARM is well known in the embedded market for its experience and commitment to providing optimized processor solutions and development tools.” said David Doherty, Vice President, Supplier Marketing, Arrow Electronics. “The Cortex-M1 Development Kit presents an effective combination of both ARM and Altera technologies which is particularly well suited for Arrow’s OEM customers. We see this as an attractive combination of technologies for implementations in the telecommunications, automotive and transportation, industrial, medical and life sciences industries, where fast accessibility and high reliability are key requirements.”

The Cortex-M1 Development Kit product features an encrypted version of the Cortex-M1 processor and a special edition of the RealView Microcontroller Development Kit. The ARM Cortex-M1 processor, designed for implementation on FPGA devices from leading vendors, is a streamlined three-stage 32-bit RISC processor that implements a subset of the popular, high density Thumb®-2 instruction set. This enables both the processor and software footprint to meet the area budget of the smallest FPGA devices, while retaining compatibility with Thumb code for any ARM processor from the ARM7TDMI® processor upwards. The RealView Microcontroller Development Kit integrates two industry-leading tools: ARM RealView Compilation Tools and the Keil™ µVision™3 development environment, which provides developers with a feature-rich, integrated development environment optimized for a wide range of ARM processor-based microcontrollers.

AvailabilityThe Cortex-M1 Development Kit will be commercially available in the United States and Europe in Q4 2007 through Arrow Electronics. Demonstrations of the Cortex-M1 Development Kit can be viewed at the ARM Developers’ Conference in Santa Clara, Calif., October 2-4. For further information about ARM solutions in FPGA visit www.arm.com/fpga.

About ARMARM designs the technology that lies at the heart of advanced digital products, from mobile, home and enterprise solutions to embedded and emerging applications. ARM’s comprehensive product offering includes 16/32-bit RISC microprocessors, data engines, graphics processors, digital libraries, embedded memories, peripherals, software and development tools, as well as analog functions and high-speed connectivity products. Combined with the company’s broad Partner community, they provide a total system solution that offers a fast, reliable path to market for leading electronics companies. More information on ARM is available at http://www.arm.com.

About the ARM Connected CommunityThe ARM Connected Community is a global network of companies aligned to provide a complete solution, from design to manufacture and end use, for products based on the ARM architecture. ARM offers a variety of resources to Community members, including promotional programs and peer-networking opportunities that enable a variety of ARM Partners to come together to provide end-to-end customer solutions. For more information, please visit http://www.arm.com/community.